Michael Hastings Is Dead

Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings has died in a car crash. In retropect, I felt that Hastings was rather hard on Gen. Stanley McChrystal. (I am guilty of this too.) Even Hastings article noted that McChrystal stressed to his troops to avoid civilian causalities in fire fights in Afghanistan. McChrystal set a terms of engagement that was controversial with the troops. also warned about the dangers of using drones to America's long-term international standing.

"What scares me about drone strikes is how they are perceived around the world," he said in an interview. "The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes ... is much greater than the average American appreciates. They are hated on a visceral level, even by people who've never seen one or seen the effects of one."

McChrystal said the use of drones exacerbates a "perception of American arrogance that says, 'Well we can fly where we want, we can shoot where we want, because we can.'"

Hastings often got into needless fights. One case being his email exchange with I have worked in media and this is not the kind of email you should send to a White House official. Hastings sent this email to Hillary Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines

From: Michael Hastings

Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 12:50 PM


To: Reines, Philippe I 
Cc: Nuland, Victoria J


Subject: Re: Request for comment 



Why don’t you give answers that aren’t bullshit for a change?

Hastings continually gets more abrasive with each email. I can't blame Reines for eventually telling Hastings to "fuck off."

On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 1:38 PM, Reines, Philippe I wrote:


I now understand why the official investigation by the Department of the Defense as reported by The Army Times The Washington Post concluded beyond a doubt that you’re an unmitigated asshole. How’s that for a non-bullshit response? Now that we’ve gotten that out of our systems, have a good day. And by good day, I mean Fuck Off

I do respect Hastings' passion to get the story. If not necessarily his methods. This quote from Julius Caesar sums up my feelings on Hastings.

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar.

Establishment Media Protects Power

Joy-Ann Reid noticed something I didn't pick on in my post of Joe Sacrborough accusing John Boehner of spending more time in bars then working. Politico reporter Jim Vandehei ducked Scarborough's repeated questioning of if Boehner is a hard worker. Mark Halperin confirmed Scarborough's accusation that many Washington Republicans feels Boehner is lazy.

Politico then ran an attack article on Scarborough for his questioning of Vandehei. Politico reporter Jake Sherman ran a quote from Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel that Boehner only goes to Washington bars for fundraisers. Sherman didn't list the candidates Boehner fundraised for in Washington bars.Sherman ran no quotes from Republicans on or off-the-record about Boehner's work ethic. This was an opportunity for Sherman to find out if Scarborough is telling the truth. The only quote Sherman sought out was from Boehner's spokeman.

Sherman's last paragraph slaps down Scarborough for attacking Boehner.

Scarborough and Boehner served in the House together from 1995 to 2001. Scarborough owes at least some of his success to Boehner. The Ohio Republican played a key role in authoring the Contract With America, the 1994 GOP road map that helped bring Scarborough and a Republican majority to Washington.

How dare Scarborough diss Boehner's work ethic. Doesn't Scarborough realize he owes Boehner? Actually, Grover Norquist is responsible for the Contract With America. President Clinton failing to pass health care reform and the political climate in the country had more to do with Scarborough getting elected than Boehner.

To Politico, the story isn't that the House Minority Leader maybe lazy or has a drinking problem. Politico feels they must protect a powerful member of Congress. The same thing has happened with the media reaction to Michael Hastings' article on Gen. Stanley McChrystal. CBS News News foreign correspondent Lara Logan tells Howard Kurtz that the establishment media has a responsibility not to print anything embarrassing of people in power. I am serious.

KURTZ: When you are out with the troops and you're living together and sleeping together, is there an unspoken agreement --

LOGAN: Absolutely.

KURTZ: -- that you're not going to embarrass them by reporting insults and banter?

LOGAN: Yes.

KURTZ: Tell me about that.

LOGAN: Yes, absolutely. There is an element of trust.

And what I find is the most telling thing about what Michael Hastings said in your interview is that he talked about his manner as pretending to build an illusion of trust and, you know, he's laid out there what his game is. That is exactly the kind of damaging type of attitude that makes it difficult for reporters who are genuine about what they do, who don't -- I don't go around in my personal life pretending to be one thing and then being something else. I mean, I find it egregious that anyone would do that in their professional life.

And, I mean, I take that to the point of, even when I plan to interview someone about something difficult, and they want to know the areas of the interview, I might not say, well, we're going to spend the whole interview on this, but I will list that. I will list that controversial issue.

The banter between members of McChrystal's team showed their dysfunction, rowdy drunken behavior and their belief the mission in Afghanistan is failing. Logan believes the American people do not need to know McChrystal and members of President Obama's national security team are war against each other. This is why people do not know why the Afghanistan war is a mess. Logan fails to understand that her responsibility is to her viewers and not the military establishment. The media hero worship of McChrystal is so embarrassing. A classic example is Geraldo Rivera comparing McChrystal to Lou Gehrig. Really? Did McChrystal geraldo ever bat .379 in a season?

RIVERA: This reporter from "Rolling Stone", he was a rat in an eagle's nest. What he did was to become part of the background, part of the scenery, knowing full well, given his political ideology--

O'REILLY: All right, let's walk through.

RIVERA: --and everything else, his altitude, he knew what he wanted to do.

O'REILLY: Okay, I'm not disputing, look--

RIVERA: And I disagree with Chris Wallace. This was not a 280- hitter. General Stanley McCrystal is no 280-hitter. If General Petraeus is Babe Ruth, and I agree with that analogy, Stanley McCrystal is Lou Gehrig.

The Young Turrk has the clips of Logan and Rivera for defending McCrystal.